Percy's Nursery Problem
by nixerist
Summary: #5 of the Life as We Know It series. Percy and Annabeth are shopping for the new baby. They take a trip to Babies R Us! We always knew Percy was a Seaweed Brain, but is he a big enough one to mess this up?


It has been five hectic months since we found out Annabeth was pregnant. Five hormonal months. The first few weeks, Annabeth would wake up every morning at about 5 A.M. and have morning sickness. It turned out she was a month along when we found out so that didn't last too 's calmed down, thank the gods. She is crazy hormonal. If you can imagine my wife, who is extremely good at scaring you with one frown, pregnant, it's terrifying. I've learned very quickly what not to do. Which is pretty much everything. No rolling in your sleep. No asking for anything. No chewing loudly. Heck, if she hears you breathing, you might as well run.

So when Annabeth told me that we had to go nursery shopping, there was no way I was going to try to fight it. We hadn't worried too much about preparing our house, but she had started freaking out recently about how we were going to finish it. All we had figured out is that she was in charge, and I would put things together. Simple enough, right? Wrong.

And that is basically how we ended up at Babies 'R' Us.

"Hey Annabeth, just out of curiosity, what are you thinking for the theme of this room?"

"Maybe yellow? It's neutral and can work for either gend- ooh Percy! Look at this stroller! It folds up and is super light!"

Another thing: Annabeth, who used to hate shopping for anything and everything, has become a shopaholic. Especially when it came to this baby. We already had enough clothes to last a year.

"That's nice honey. Is there any way I can convince you to go with a Finding Nemo theme? Ya know, fish."

"Remember when we agreed that this was my nursery? Does that answer your question?" She replied.

I mumbled a small response, that seemed to please her, and then we went to find all we needed. Cribs here, high chairs there, and of course, the _cutest _clothes we just _had _to buy, according to Annabeth, everywhere. Eventually, I couldn't pay attention to all of it, so my mind started wondering and questioning our future.

"Hey Annabeth. What if this baby is a boy? We've only discussed girl names." I asked when it came across my mind.

She didn't respond. She just stopped and looked down into our cart.

"Wise Girl?"

"Percy, if it's a boy.." She said deep in thought, "Well, I always thought it would be nice to name him Luke." As the sentence went on her voice fizzled down to nothing, and she barely squeaked out the last word. But I had heard it.

She started up again, "I always wanted to name him Luke, but, I just don't know if I could do it. Waking up and being constantly reminded.."

"It's okay. Let's talk about this later."

And we continued through the store. When we reached the bedding section, they coincidentally had Nemo sheets sitting there. I smiled triumphantly, but Annabeth just growled at me.

"Percy, look at! They have so many neutral colors! Which one do you like of these three?" She said, picking up a yellow, a green, and a cream colored bedding set. Everything in my mind screamed "DANGER PERCY, DO NOT ANSWER. LET HER CHOOSE!" But my mouth isn't that smart.

Mistake number one.

"Well, personally, I don't love any of them, but I guess the green is alright."

Mistake number two.

"Not a single one? Do you even care about this baby? Why are you even here if all you are doing is making things harder!" She yelled at me.

"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to be honest."

Mistake number three.

"That's it, Kelp for brains! I seriously am just done with you! Why don't you figure out the whole nursery and carry the baby and deal with all this CRAP while I go lay on the couch and hang out with friends! Have a great time!" She yelled, starting to attract attention.

"Annabeth wait! I didn't mean-" I started, but she was already storming out.

Unsure quite what to do, since I knew there was no way she was coming back (and that she probably took the car), I called in my reinforcement team. The guys.

About half an hour later, Leo, Frank, and Jason had arrived. I explained to them what happened, and after a chorus of "Dude, how stupid are you?"'s, we conjured up a plan. We probably looked ridiculous, four guys walking through a baby store, but it was necessary. We split up, Leo and Jason getting furniture, and Frank and I getting everything else. After an hour, we seemed to have everything and met at the checkout counter. We loaded everything into Leo's pickup truck, and after stopping to buy paint at the hardware store, headed back to my apartment.

When we finally got there, (deviating New York traffic in a full pickup truck isn't generally easy), I was surprised that Annabeth wasn't there. All the guys called their girlfriend/fiancé/wife and we learned Annabeth was over at the Zhang's apartment. After instructing Hazel to keep her there, we set to work. Everything had to be moved, painted, built, decorated. You name it, we were doing it. Leo had everything built and ready pretty quick so the only thing that took too long was painting. When we finally finished, I said goodbye, jumped on the subway, and headed for the Zhang's.

After knocking for a while, Hazel finally answered and pointed to the living area, where Annabeth was having a pity party. I walked up to her and sat down, her never responding.

"Annabeth, honey. Listen, I'm really sorry. I know, I am horribly stupid, but will you forgive me and come home?"

She looked back at me, pondering this idea. "Sure, Percy. I'm sorry I freaked. Lets go home."

We went to the Prius and I drove home, her awkwardly silent. When we got there, I grabbed her hand and made her cover her eyes. We walked into our apartment, through the hall to the nursery, where I stood her in the doorway and told her she could open her eyes. She did, and she was shocked to see her dream nursery, completely finished.

"Aw, you guys! I can't believe you did this! Percy was this your idea?"

"Of course! You told me to finish the nursery and carry the baby so.." I said walking out of the room to grab my other surprise.

"I bought this!" I said as I walked into the room, wearing a giant fake, pregnant belly. Annabeth started crying from laughing so hard. The guys were all too busy taking pictures to show everybody.

"Oh Percy, you are such a Seaweed Brain."


End file.
